Actually, sam, I heard the largest leaf distinction belongs to Aralia spinosa. That is a compound leaf, so perhaps the largest simple leaf award belongs to M. macrophylla. calliope - are your M. tripetala and M. macrophylla blooming at the same time? In my garden they are about a month apart, so I was curious if they overlapped for you (and therefore could hybridize). My M. macrophylla, btw, does not have that purple marking. Congratulations! I was so excited when mine bloomed about 4 years ago for the first time. Now I am waiting on M. asheii to do the same. Here is my M. macrophylla (thankfully on a low hanging branch!):

rhizo, I understand, but I was not confused about what I was calling it. My first post had both common and Latin name. I even remember while living in Miss., that some called it Cowcumber tree. I have been growing plants all my life and I am a senior , don't make me know everything. We have lost a lots of our country traders and posters because they were made to feel they were not wanted because they called a yellow bell a yellow bell. If anything is posted, you can do a search and get a lots of info. I would say that all the poster knew there was two different tree and knew the difference, they were just reliving their childhood. I post a lots and will continue to do so, I use common names a lots. If you want the Latin ones search or just ask me, Jeff, this is a free foram, we don't need you to tell us not to use common names. The tree on this post will always be a cucumber tree. You call it what you want.

I recently ordered some hard to find trees (chinquipin, sourwood, etc.) from PineRidge Gardens in London, AR and was impressed with the selection and shipping. Then I noticed that they had some larger trees that couldn't be shipped so I drove 275 miles one-way for a 10-gallon sourwood. While there I noticed that they had many small magnolia macrophylla and magnolia ashei. Also had several larger magnolia ashei 6-7' in 10-gallon containers. Can't say enough about their selection of trees that I've not been able to find easily! My only relation is as a satisfied customer. Here is a link that might be useful: Pineridge Gardens

For the Musa - you can plant out a tiny pup and have it reach a 4-5 foot trunk + 4 foot leaves in one summer - lots of water and high nitrogen fertilizer! For the winter, you can dig up a stem (shallow root system) and pot it up in a big pot - minimum 18" diameter and height for the pot. One year I built an insulation box over the stems and put lights inside for heat - I was able to get the trunks to survive above ground over winter. They're pretty easy growers! Here is a pic from 2006 when I first started growing them. This started the summer as two 1 foot tall plants. They tend to pup like crazy when growing happily.